Rescuers thrown overboard as ship capsizes

Imagine yourself in this situation: you are part of the rescue team sent on board a boat to check for passengers. The boat starts to capsize. What do you do?

It was a life and death situation in the terrifying moments that followed. A passenger boat capsized after it was struck by a another vessel during a rescue operation on the flooded Jialing River in southwest China's Chongqing municipality.

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A boat capsizes after it was hit by another vessel on the flooded Jialing River in southwest China's Chongqing municipality on Sept. 20, 2011.

My colleague John Makely published a different view of this incident yesterday, but several new images from a different angle reveal new details.

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Rescue workers check a boat for passengers after the vessel was hit by another boat on the flooded Jialing River in southwest China's Chongqing municipality on Sept. 20, 2011.

Try as we did, we could not see any people on the boats that collided in the photos we received yesterday. Today there is clear evidence there were, at minimum, a few rescuers on board. Additionally, The Daily Mail said there were reports that staff and passengers were on board at when the ship tipped.

ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

Two people struggle in the water after falling off a restaurant ship in Jialing River on Sept. 20, 2011 in Chongqing, China. About 2,080 houses were damaged and 325,000 people were affected by Jialing River flooding.

Torrential rains have saturated Chinese provinces, straining government and volunteers who are working around the clock to help millions affected by the flooding.